Iranian Deputy FM Warns against Threat of Extremism

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian deputy foreign minister cautioned against the serious threats posed by extremism to the region and the whole world, and called for collective action to confront the threat.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi on Tuesday emphasized the necessity for concerted efforts by the entire counties to tackle the challenge of extremism and its dire consequences.

He made the comments in a meeting with Andreas Schockenhoff, deputy chairman of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) parliamentary group in the German Bundestag.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister also laid an emphasis on Tehran’s entitlement to enjoy all the nuclear rights that are stipulated in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and expressed the country’s preparedness to “allay the legitimate concerns” about its peaceful nuclear program.

Takht Ravanchi, who is also a member of the Iranian team engaged in nuclear talks with the six major world powers, called for the all-out efforts to foil the attempts that aim to scupper plans for implementation of a landmark nuclear deal reached in Geneva last November.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany) on November 24 signed a six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program based on which the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to freeze parts of its nuclear activities and to allow more inspection of its nuclear facilities.

The goal is to create a breathing space for a comprehensive agreement to be negotiated that the sides hope will be able to resolve for good the standoff over Iran's nuclear program after a decade of on-off meetings and failed attempts.

In the Tuesday meeting, Schockenhoff, for his part, pointed to mutual interests of Iran and Germany in political, economic and cultural fields, and expressed his country’s willingness to broaden regional cooperation with the Islamic Republic.

Andreas Schockenhoff, 55, is a member of Germany's parliament with the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He has also been Chancellor Angela Merkel's commissioner for German-Russian cooperation since 2006, and he recently became the German coordinator for the civil society working group of the Petersburg Dialogue.